Tag Archives: three days

After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” (Matthew 28:1-10, NRSV)

Jesus was laid in the tomb Friday evening…

He was dead. When they pierced His side, blood and water flowed, a sure sign of death.

So it was a bit surprising when the Marys head to the tomb to wrap His body and put spices on it that the stone is rolled away and an angel is waiting for them.

And they hear for the first time, “Do not be afraid.” Jesus is not here.

And they believe and run to tell the disciples when they run into Jesus, who also says to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” We have reason to fear when He was dead, but here He is walking with us, but isn’t that what He told us would happen?

Do we not believe He will keep His promises. He said 3 days and I will rise!

So do not be afraid, for He is alive! And He is going to keep all of His promises!

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:3-11 NRSV)

It is easy today when Jesus is in the tomb to get caught in the downside of our lives…

To see all of the bad that is happening all around us…

We can easily get caught in the bad and darkness that is all around us. We get a glimpse of the evil all around us and the darkness just closes in. Like in the clip here of the movie Rise of the Guardians, where it seems Pitch Black, or the Boogie Man, has finally won, and the guardians are about to be defeated.

You see it is easy to see that there is no way out and that darkness is all around us. It is easy to get caught in the trials of life and just get worn down. See my earlier post for today on this, Worn. It is so easy to not see the light that is streaming all around us.

But in the clip you will see the guardians who are worn, and beaten down, standing up for the children, to protect them, as we can stand against evil and know that Jesus, even in the tomb, is defending us in our faith…

And as in the clip Jamie, the last child who believes, stands up in his fear against the boogie man, we to can claim his words as we stand against the darkness in this life…

The scene is about 1 minute in where Pitch black asks, “Still think there’s no such thing as the boogie man?”

And Jamie replies, “I do believe in you, I’m just not afraid of you.”

So do you not know that you are a new creation and the trials and weights of this life do not have to get you down. Stand up to the darkness and proclaim loudly to evil, “I do believe in you, I’m just not afraid of you. Because in Jesus I am a new creation and I will be reborn!”